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Things you notice when you quit the news (2016)

raptitude.com

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Re: Things you notice when you quit the news (2016)

#251

Post by dpcan »

This article hits the nail on the head.

I stopped consuming all political, health, and global news the day after January 6th 2021. Pretty much anything that was on CNN/Fox or that half hour after the local news. I never watched local news really anyway, so I couldn’t quit something I didn’t already do in that regard.

I just assumed that if there were news outlets fooling humans into doing something like THAT on January 6th in the USA, then whatever I was watching was bound to fool me into doing something outrageous too, and it was time to stop.

I first started to consider stopping my news consumption after a certain someone was banned from Twitter. The weight I felt lifted off of me when I didn’t hear that noise anymore was immense. I figured it could only get better.

It did.

Just like this article says, within a month, you feel so much better about everything.

The world around you starts to feel normal. Things just are what they are.

Being informed didn’t help me or anyone else. Being concerned didn’t make the world a better place.

If something horrible is going to happen, I guess I’ll just be the last to know. And that’s totally fine with me.

I hope millions engage in cancelling the news. It could just be what sets things straight in this world.

Re: Things you notice when you quit the news (2016)

#252

Post by redisman »

GordonS wrote: post #127

I actually stopped purposely reading/watching the news some time around 2016 - and it's been a very positive experience for me. I had enough negativity in my life as it was, and it just felt like every media outlet overwhelmingly pursued negative stories - war, famine, corruption, FUD etc. I dwelt on such stories, fretting about what might happen. And it frustrated me greatly that I could do nothing about any of thes…

I had a very similar experience. I try to focus on my “circle of control”. Great for lowering your general background stress and anxiety.

Re: Things you notice when you quit the news (2016)

#253

Post by chaircher »

TrueGeek wrote: post #14

I've uninstalled Facebook and stopped reading / watching the news. I read HN and a few local subreddits via RSS. I do feel much better mentally. I would, however, like a way to be informed of breaking news. I tried a few apps but their idea of "breaking" news often involved celebrity gossip. I really only want to know if its MAJOR: war breaks out, aliens land and make contact, fusion is finally perfected and we're al…

I had this exact issue. Over time your irl social network (like your wife) cotton on that you're not in the loop and they'll contact you to tell you about things they think you're interested in. So not only is there better curation going on but you're also strengthening your bond with real people around you.

Re: Things you notice when you quit the news (2016)

#254

Post by UncleSlacky »

secabeen wrote: post #201
ROTMetro wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to find the Economist great, but with the corrosiveness of everything this last bit, they seem to sneak agenda into articles now days in a way I feel like this whole post is trying to move away from. Maybe as a lost Libertarian who can't stand the control everyone's lives progressives I feel that has crept quite a bit into the Economist. It's funny it bothers me as I have reached a point where I feel Libertari…

The Economist is clearly not a Libertarian newspaper. They represent the classical liberal position, which is not Libertarian, and never has been.

As Lenin put it, "a journal which speaks for British millionaires".

Re: Things you notice when you quit the news (2016)

#255

Post by chiefalchemist »

What gets passed off as news and journalism too often isn't either. Just because something happened (e.g., it rained) doesn't make it news. News has to have relevance and importance.

With that proper definition as a filter, a fairly high percentage of US mainstream media news is in fact fake news. This higher revenue fluff is used intentionally to marginalize things that qualify as legit news. Yet somehow these members of The Fourth Estate are shameless enough to cry about "threats to democracy."

The problem is, we don't hear the news admit their definition of news is technically nonsense. Not one of them is willing to police the others. It's hypersonic bullshit that repetition has normalized.

As for journalism...this is a solid filter. It's a handy bullshit detector.

https://kottke.org/20/01/jim-lehrers-rules-of-journalism-1

Re: Things you notice when you quit the news (2016)

#256

Post by duped »

dionian wrote: post #225
ROTMetro wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to find the Economist great, but with the corrosiveness of everything this last bit, they seem to sneak agenda into articles now days in a way I feel like this whole post is trying to move away from. Maybe as a lost Libertarian who can't stand the control everyone's lives progressives I feel that has crept quite a bit into the Economist. It's funny it bothers me as I have reached a point where I feel Libertari…

The Economist, like NPR, are good at sounding informed and unbiased, but wind up to be egregiously ideologically compromised

Can you give some examples?

Particularly with NPR, you have to focus on particular shows and stations. There's no central editorial staff for the content that comes from their member stations. For example the Takeaway has quite different editorial standards than All Things Considered or Morning Edition.

Re: Things you notice when you quit the news (2016)

#257

Post by ppeetteerr »

parkingrift wrote: post #119
ppeetteerr wrote: post #24

So much to unpack here. For starters, being informed makes for more interesting conversations with others. It means that you get to reflect on what you stand for, and grow as an individual with an opinion. News is also the gateway for deeper information. If you stick to just the news, that's one thing, but if you then go deeper into the topic (what is the relationship between Ukraine and Russia?) then you get invalua…

Strong disagree with the idea that watching or reading mainstream news is informative. I don't think it's unfair at all to label mainstream news (US) as propaganda. Have you ever compared the home pages of major mainstream media companies? It's as if they are reporting on a completely different country. It begs the question of whether it is better to be uninformed or misinformed. Consuming mainstream media in the US…

How would you have found out about the Texas power outages last year or the rising Opioid epidemic if it were not for news (unless you lived in Texas or knew someone addicted to Oxy)? Or any other event from your city all the way to your federal government?

You can dismiss all news as being misinformation, but even the shadiest outlets report some semblance of facts. It's the cause of the news that's often up for debate.

Re: Things you notice when you quit the news (2016)

#258

Post by buzzert »

yojo wrote: post #54
macksd wrote: post #4

I fully agree with this. Scanning Google News or a couple of the more professional international news services like BBC / Al Jazeera / Reuters I still feel pretty well informed (and confident that there's usually nothing of immediate consequence to me) but it doesn't grow into "expert analysis" or impact my feelings much. Here's another thing I noticed: how manipulated / manipulative it is. And not just news and I do…

I'm a firm believer in quality over quantity when it comes to news. Google News has gotten increasingly annoying though, forcing me harder toward the "personalized" results, the kind of filter bubble I'm intentionally trying to avoid. What worked well for me was getting a print subscription to the Economist. They definitely have a bias (particularly in their editorials), but it's mostly of the "free trade" variety, w…

I've personally been enjoying the "Quartz Daily Brief"[0] as my sole source of news for many years. My favorite thing about it, besides the fact that it's relatively unbiased, is that it's also pretty light on the actual news part. Today's brief only has five articles of news, which is less than a screenful. Following that is a "deep dive" into a non-polarizing topic (today it's about Cricket), then a few "fun", non-emotionally manipulating, articles (e.g., a new Coca Cola flavor).

Highly recommend it! And this is coming from someone who despises news, generally.

[0]: https://qz.com/emails/daily-brief/

Re: Things you notice when you quit the news (2016)

#259

Post by redisman »

karaterobot wrote: post #18

I think you also discover that a lot of things you assumed you believed in yourself were actually just other peoples' opinions, which you signed off on to because of the mere-exposure effect. Without hearing them chanted over and over, they stop being as self-evident as you thought they were.

Huge problem with US news sources (and most others too). Almost all of them have an overarching editorial “narrative” that colors their every decision.

Re: Things you notice when you quit the news (2016)

#260

Post by hunter21b »

LordDragonfang wrote: post #227
damnyankees wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

You are describing a behavior that is directly in violation of the Hacker News guidelines >Throwaway accounts are ok for sensitive information, but please don't create accounts routinely. HN is a community—users should have an identity that others can relate to. If your comment is so divisive that you think it would get your account deleted, it probably doesn't belong on HN. >Eschew flamebait. Avoid unrelated controv…

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